Shape-Shifters
by SkyStrider
Summary: Ranma's tries (with Akane's help) to learn how to preserve clothes during a shape-shift, something that could have significant implications for the rest of Nerima's shape-shifters. The result forces Nabiki (of all people) to ponder certain philosophical realities.


The usual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only. I do claim the character of Augustus (if you want to borrow him, you only have to ask – just common courtesy after all).

While this is story is part of the Bindings ("Kasumi's Fate") continuum, it's not necessary to have read any of the previous stories. You only need to know a few things:

1) Ranma and Akane are happily dating now.  
2) Kasumi and Tofu are engaged.  
3) Ranma has made a conscious decision to keep his shape-shifting abilities/curse.  
4) Augustus is another Jusenkyo shape-shifter and a friend of Ranma and Akane (he is from "The Date"). He is an older English gentleman who changes into a zebra. He is mentioned in passing a couple of times.

Anything else isn't important to enjoy the story (although, please feel free to read the other stories).

Onwards…

* * *

Shape-Shifters

Akane was relaxing in her room when she heard the scream of frustration coming from the dojo. "O.K., she thought. "I wonder what's got him so wound up?" It was a lovely summer day and Akane was enjoying the day off by reading a short novel on her bed with the window open. It was early enough in the day that the heat and humidity hadn't built up yet, so she was enjoying the privacy of her room before she was driven out of it. Still as fond as she was of a little time alone, she was fonder of Ranma and decided to see what was up with him.

Going downstairs, she heard her siblings conversing with Dr. Tofu in the kitchen. None of them had reacted to the scream. Nodoka was napping on the couch and Genma and Daddy were playing a game again. "Did anyone here a loud yell?" she asked the two men.

"Ranma is probably working on some mystical nonsense that Tofu has been teaching him," Genma said. "It's probably nothing."

"It didn't sound like he was hurt, Akane," her father told her.

"I'll go and check on him anyway," Akane told him.

"Sounds good, honey," Soun answered her, already dismissing Ranma from his thoughts.

As she headed toward the dojo, she reflected on Genma's words. "Mystical nonsense?" she thought. "How is the ability to summon a hurricane nonsense?" O.K., Ranma couldn't actually summon a hurricane, but he could make you think you were caught in one with a Wind Blast. He also no longer needed a source of heat to generate a Hiryu Shoten Ha tornado (or at least something very much like it). Of course, he had learned these things on his own, but under Tofu's guidance, he could now also lift things using cushions of air and create barriers capable of stopping large objects (although he needed to in a meditative state for heavier objects right now). He was also able to speak privately to only one person in a crowded room along a line of sight, something that he and Akane had made use of on occasion. His ability to steal heat from an object could also be used as a weapon; the effects ranged from temporarily knocking a person out to a hospital visit for hypothermia. "Personally, that sounds pretty potent to me," Akane finished to herself.

She went to the dojo and opened the door, then stopped stunned at the sight before her. Ranko was sitting in the middle of the dojo with her shirt open bare to the waist, pants half on, a frilly bra draped over her head and a set of woman's bikini underwear on the floor. There were two large thermoses sitting on the floor next to her. Akane would have laughed at the sight, but the frustrated look on Ranko's face made her stop. Rarely had Akane seen the girl look so annoyed. "Ranma, are you OK?" Akane asked.

Ranko looked over at Akane and blushed. "Hold on a minute…" she said. The red-headed girl picked up one of the thermoses and poured some water on herself. The next moment, Ranma was sitting on the floor, fully dressed in a different set of clothes.

"Whoa," Akane said. "Not bad. You figured out how to preserve your clothes during a shape change."

"No, I haven't," Ranma responded with frustration. "I still don't know how Pops and some of the others do it. The closest I can come is to do a speed change as the shape is switching. I can switch into male clothes easy enough, but I blow it completely switching into girls' clothes."

"Where are you getting the clothes from?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I can hide clothes as well as weapons. I'm not as good as Mousse, but I can get the job done," he answered. "I just can't seem to get them on right quickly."

Akane reflected that Ranma was probably one of the small subset of males on the planet who knew how to put on as well as take off a bra. Most men probably learned the latter, but not the former. A naughty part of her mind added that the latter skill might be useful sometime in the near future, but the rest of her brain worked on squashing that thought (not very successfully though). "Let's see how far you can get," she suggested.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and picked up the other thermos. He poured water on himself and then Ranko was sitting on the floor. The pants were on this time, but the shirt was open again. The bra and the panties were on the floor. Ranko looked visibly annoyed at the loose garments.

"You're good," Akane told the red-head. "I didn't even see you change clothes."

"Ahem," Ranko responded gesturing at the underwear.

"Does the underwear fit properly?" Akane asked.

Ranko nodded.

"Put on the bra and let me see," Akane requested.

Ranko picked up the bra and put it on normally. Akane watched the girl carefully. The red head put it on correctly, and it fit perfectly, but Akane noticed a small wince on Ranko face. "Does it hurt, Ranma?" Akane asked.

Ranko looked surprised at the question. "No, it fits fine," the girl answered.

Akane looked thoughtful for a second. "Ranma, switch back." In a moment, the male martial artist was back, looking at her inquisitively. He could see the wheels turning in her head, but didn't know where they were going. Akane stretched out her hand and asked: "Let me see the clothes for a second." Ranma seemed to pull them out of thin air and handed them to Akane. The blue-black haired girl studied the clothes for a minute and held up the underwear. The garments were very lacey and feminine and fit in with Ranma's over-the-top costume ideas, but they were not what Akane would call practical. She handed the shirt and pants back to Ranma and placed the underwear aside. "Just switch into these," she requested.

Ranma nodded and accepted the clothes back. One splash of water later, and Ranko stood before Akane, dressed properly in the woman's shirt and pants. "That looks right," Akane said.

"Yeah," Ranko agreed. "But the pants chaff without the underwear and I'm trying to treat my female side correctly, so I need to wear the bra for proper support."

"No disagreement on either point," Akane said. "Besides, there's sometimes when a woman really wants a set of underwear."

"I'm aware of the issues, Akane. It has happened and I really don't want to talk about it now." The girl paused for a second. "But we may need to – later," she added sheepishly. "Especially since I'm spending more time as a girl lately."

Akane just nodded and let the matter drop. She looked at the underwear again. "Change back and give me a minute," Akane said. "I'll be back." Akane turned away with the garments she had and walked to the house.

A few minutes later Akane was upstairs in her room looking through her underwear drawer. She found a pair of full briefs and checked the size against Ranko's garments. "We are about the same anymore in that department," she thought to herself. She set the briefs aside and looked at the bras. Now she had a problem. "I went up a cup size again," Akane thought. "But so did Ranma." She suppressed a surge of irrational jealousy at the thought. Ranma had told her she looked beautiful – that was good enough for Akane. Besides, as her friends once teased her, Ranma was a leg man and Akane had no issues in that department. Still, she knew someone who was the same size as Ranko…

Akane got up and went downstairs to the kitchen. Tofu was sitting at the table looking through the paper he was holding. Nabiki was sitting across from him, bantering with Kasumi, who was working on lunch. "Hey Kasumi, can I borrow one of your bras for a little bit?" Akane asked.

Kasumi turned to her little sister. "Akane, I really don't think you should be firing fruit at the neighbors again, especially using my clothing. Use your own if you really have to do that," she said with a reproving face.

"Oh, come on Kasumi. I haven't done that since I was eleven," Akane half-laughed.

"Besides," Nabiki chimed in. "With her bras, Akane can only shoot grapefruit at the neighbors. With your bras, Kasumi, she can launch whole melons."

"Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded. "Stop that. How do you think Akane and I feel when you make comments like that."

"Actually," Akane bantered. "I was pretty happy with the grapefruit comment."

Tofu spoke up from behind his paper. "Especially, with the size of the grapefruit you buy, Kasumi."

Kasumi walked over to Tofu and pulled the paper down. She then tapped him on the head with the spoon she was holding. "You. Don't speak until you are spoken to," she ordered her fiancé. The insolent look he threw back was unrepentant.

"Actually, I want to borrow one of your sports bras for Ranma," Akane told her eldest sister.

"You hear the most interesting conversations in this house," Tofu commented.

Kasumi looked at Akane. "I have a feeling I really don't want to know," Kasumi said.

"Ohh… but I do!" Nabiki interjected raising her hand.

"Leave him alone, Nabiki," Akane said. "He's trying to get use to the fact that Ranko's a permanent part of his life, and he's having enough difficulties. Wait a week or so, then tease him."

"Spoilsport!" her middle sister shot back.

"I see," Kasumi said. "All right, Akane. They are upstairs in my top drawer."

Akane turned to leave now that she had permission. On her way to the stairs, she heard the bantering continue. "You know, I really don't think it's fair that Akane and I have to hide our underwear and you get to store yours normally," Nabiki told the eldest.

"Learn to cook Happosai's favorite foods. Maybe he'll leave yours alone then," Kasumi answered Nabiki. Akane ran up the stairs at that point.

Akane found what she was looking for, and ran back outside to the dojo. Ranma was waiting for her curiously. "Here," she said handing him the garments. "Try these instead."

Ranma looked at the briefs first. Akane noticed he didn't say anything for a minute or so. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Give me a second. You're trying to help me, so I'm keeping my mouth shut while waiting for the first twenty or so stupid comments to roll out of my brain," he told her.

She suppressed a giggle at that. "You're learning," she approved. "But, yes, women don't always wear bikini briefs. The full briefs have their advantages too. I usually like to wear them when I go jogging or wear long pants. Everyone is a little different in their reasons for one versus the other."

"There a bit like men's, Tomboy," he noted.

Akane caught the teasing note in his voice and decided it was appropriate, so she only lightly doped slapped him. "Again, I'm trying to help you out here…" she told him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry," he half-apologized (but only half). He held up the bra. "Which way is right side out?" he asked.

"Here. Switch over and I'll show you how to put it on," she said. "Again, another conversation you'd only hear in this household," she thought to herself.

A quick splash later and Ranko was back. Akane helped her put on the sports bra, and Ranko stood up to look at herself in the mirror. "Not bad," the red head commented. "It feels pretty comfortable actually. Did you grow again?"

Akane blushed a little at that. "No, I borrowed the bra from Kasumi."

"Oh," Ranko immediately went into silent mode again as the next twenty stupid things to say flew through her head. Once they were gone, she decided a compliment would probably be appropriate. "Have I told you lately that you are very pretty?"

"Yes, you have," Akane said shyly. "And 'thank you'."

Ranko smiled at Akane, relieved that she had actually got out of that one cleanly. Then she went back to look at herself in the mirror. Satisfied with how the bra looked, she picked up the hot water again and splashed herself. A fully clothed Ranma now stood before Akane. "Let me try this again with the new underwear," he requested. He took the briefs from Akane and looked at the mirror. Akane handed him the cold water and he splashed himself again. This time Ranko nearly got the shirt fully buttoned and the bra was only a little askew. "Hey, much better!" she said.

As Akane watched, Ranma used the thermoses to switch back and forth between forms repeatedly. With each transition to his female form, Ranma seemed to be getting the clothes set better and better. Something began to sink into Akane's awareness though. As she focused on Ranma switching back and forth, she noticed that she could occasionally see Ranko's half clothed form during the instant of transition, but she never saw Ranma's (something that disappointed the naughty portion of her mind). She also noticed a slight shifting of Ranma's aura. She always thought that Ranma cast the same aura regardless of what form the boy-girl took (which was different from the other shape changers), but that wasn't quite true. There was a subtle difference that was hard to quantify.

Ranma finally stopped in his female form. Ranko looked with satisfaction at her image in the mirror. "Not bad," she said. "Now when I switch forms, I don't have to worry about getting caught in clothes that are too tight or too loose." She turned to Akane. "How did you know that the new underwear would make a difference?" she asked her fiancée.

Akane looked very thoughtfully at Ranma's face. "I'll tell you in a minute," she said. "Could you please switch back and forth a few more times as I watch your aura? There's something I want to check." Ranko looked puzzled, but nodded her assent. Akane concentrated as Ranma/Ranko switched back and forth, pausing few seconds after each transition to give Akane a little time to orient herself.

Now Akane was sure. "O.K. Ranma I got it," she told him.

"What's up?" Ranma asked her.

"Ranma, how much do you weigh as a male?" Akane asked. She needed to lead her stubborn boyfriend very carefully.

"About 80 kg," he answered.

"And as a female?" she asked again.

"About 55 kg," he shrugged.

"So when you shape-change, there's 25 kg that vanishes and re-appears?" she pressed.

"Sounds about right," he agreed.

"So, where does it go?" she asked.

"Why it justs…" Ranma trailed off. Actually, that was a good question about Jusenkyo curses. Where did the mass go and come from? And when your other shape was larger, like Augustus's shape, what sourced the initial mass? Physics said that matter could not be created or destroyed. One could say that magic didn't obey physics, but the lessons Tofu was giving Ranma (and Akane) said magic did have rules too.

Akane looked at the thoughtful expression on Ranma's face. "Physics says that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed…" she prompted.

Ranma looked at her for a minute, and then picked up the thought trend. "But that 'E=mc^2' thing can kick in," he completed. While Ranma was not an avid student, he wasn't ignorant either, and he had an innate understanding of physics. "But, that cannot work here - 25 kg changing completely to energy could not be contained and would level the city. "

"Never mind where the energy comes from to give you the mass to change back. So, the magic cannot be using a physical process," Akane said. "That means it has to be using one of the transformations Tofu told us about…"

Ranma shook his head. "It's not Alchemy," Ranma said. Alchemy was changing one material into another. Tofu said the working mass was usually air, water, or rock (in extreme cases). "Taro's changes would cause physical pops and bangs if that was the case." He didn't bring up Ryoga's extreme mass changes – Akane was still sore about that.

"What about Substitution?" Akane asked. Substitution would involve a complete second body held in a mystic null space. "Jusenkyo could have provided the initial material for the second body."

Again, he shook his head. "Two issues – the null space requires an Anchor. Also, when I switch forms, some of the superficial damage heals, but the deep damage is still with me. That wouldn't be the case with a second body."

"Well, I know it's not Illusion or Aura Shaping," Akane said. Ranma only laughed. Akane stopped for a moment. There were two more Transforms, but she didn't want to bring up Chaos just yet. What was the last one?

Ranma beat her to the punch: "That leaves Metamorphosis and Chaos," he said.

"That's the one I couldn't remember – Metamorphosis," she replied. "But that one's hard to hold indefinitely. Doctor Tofu said that the more mass change involved, the shorter the duration."

"I might not have a problem for a couple of weeks or so, but Mousse and Shampoo would only be good for about ½ a day or so," Ranma told her.

"Cologne has punished Mousse by sticking him in a cage for several days," Akane said.

"Also, I think I would have noticed some strain too when Cologne locked my curse using the 'Full Body Cat Tongue' technique," Ranma commented.

"So, it's either Chaos or something completely uncharted," Akane finished.

Ranma snorted. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked sarcastically.

Akane gave a little chuckle herself. "It would make sense that it does use Chaos though. From what Tofu said, any magic that invoked the Unformed Chaos would be extremely powerful, and there's no known human magic that can break a Jusenkyo curse."

"So, that would mean that I lose the extra mass to Unformed Chaos and gain mass from Chaos when I change back – if Chaos is actually involved," Ranma stated. At Akane's nod, Ranma continued: "Major issue though: Tofu said Chaos cannot hold information – something in this world has to provide the map to shape the Chaos properly. And there has to be two maps; one for each direction."

"Well, your DNA is a map. Given how small it physically is, it wouldn't be too hard for the magic to preserve a copy," Akane said – she had almost maneuvered her fiancé to where she wanted him. "For that matter, the magic could also preserve a DNA copy of the Spring's original woman – the girl who died so long ago."

Ranma looked puzzled for a minute, and then shook his head slowly. "DNA cannot account for everything though. What about Rouge? Her other side is a demon. Does a demon have DNA?"

"There's no law saying the magic has to have one map for each direction. There's also your Chi paths. Don't all the Chi paths exist no matter what the form?" Akane asked. "It's just that some are turned off or on depending on the shape…"

"O.K., but I still don't think it could be Chaos; allowing for two maps in each direction, there's still some mismatches," he insisted.

"Such as?" she queried.

"My female shape doesn't look Chinese – I look like my Mom. But, when Kiima used a pool she created using you, she looked almost exactly like you. Why the difference?" he challenged. (1)

"I think your expectations come into play," Akane answered. "Kiima expected to look like me, and so she did."

"Excuse me? Somehow, I don't think I expected to become a girl when I fell in," he threw back.

"Well, obviously, there are limits to what role your expectations play. When you fell in, you didn't have any real expectations, but you do have a strong sense of self. Ranko's looks were born mostly from you with a little mixing from the Chinese girl. You ended up primarily looking like Nodoka with some of the other girl's features thrown in – for example, Ranko is shorter than Nodoka, even though Genma is a decent height. To top it off, once you looked at your reflection, then the expectation was set for any further transformations," she said.

Ranma pondered that for a minute. "O.K., so assuming you are right, where does that leave us?" he asked.

"Well, if I'm right, there are three possible maps for shape-changing. The coarser details as set by your DNA and/or Chi paths, but some of the finer details are set by your expectations. At least part of how you look is because you expect to look that way," Akane told him.

Ranma let that sink in and then sank to the floor as the implications became clear. "There is no secret to preserving clothes during a shape change. The clothes disappear and re-form as part of the Jusenkyo magic. Pops expects to end up back in the gi he always wears, and so he does. I have no expectations, so the clothes don't change."

"But, when I watched you switch back and forth just now, you intended the clothes to change. When you switched to Ranko, I occasionally saw flashes of 'Ranko' undressed. But, when you switched to 'Ranma', the clothes were always in place," she told him.

Ranma hit himself with the cold water again. Now a fully clothed Ranko looked up at Akane. "You're right, Akane. Since I was training my reflexes to handle the clothes switch, not my conscious mind, I didn't notice, but I never actually took off the male clothes. They just vanished. At least now I can tell Augustus how to do it. With a little training, he can stop losing his clothes to the zebra shape." The red haired girl laughed to herself. "It's too bad I only can do that when I switch back to my normal shape," Ranko said. "Otherwise I could stop worrying about swapping clothes all together."

"So close, and yet so far," Akane thought. "Let's try another tack…" Out loud, she said: "Well, you know how your aura is always the same no matter which form you are in?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Ranko prompted.

"That's not fully true," Akane told him.

Ranko looked startled. "Are you sure? I mean, I never felt like something else was present. My physical form changed but it's not like I felt pushed to the side or that I was only a part of something else, not even a little," he said.

"Nothing else is added or taken away," Akane said. "You are literally flipped inside out. From a distance, no one could tell – you feel the same, but up close, I can tell that your Yin and Yang Chi paths switched places. When you are male, your Yang paths enclose your Yin paths, but when you are female, the Yin paths enclose the Yang paths. The shape of the paths doesn't change, none of the paths go inactive, and you still have more Yang paths than Yin paths no matter what. It's just a matter of which set of pathways are closer to the surface of your spirit.

"That's different that the other shape changers," Ranma told her. "Jusenkyo introduced new Chi paths into their systems. When they switch shapes, certain Chi paths turn on and off."

Akane nodded her agreement, "And their auras change accordingly. To detect Mousse, you have to hunt for Mousse, the human, and Mousse, the duck. And Jusenkyo probably introduced new paths into your system too, but your spirit incorporated them instead of turning them on and off – why, I don't know. You said yourself that you thought some of the Jusenkyo 'payback' was a power increase."

"O.K., but you're going someplace with this discussion, and I can't see it yet," Ranko told her.

Akane sat down on the floor with Ranko. "Ranma, can you hear me out and not make any jokes?" Akane asked.

Ranko looked a little dumbfounded. "Huh?"

"I need to tell you something very private, something that caused me a good deal of pain until I sorted it out. Can you take it seriously?" Akane asked again.

Ranko looked concerned at her girlfriend and spoke up: "I promise, Akane."

"When you first arrived here, and I learned your dual nature, I found myself attracted to Ranko," Akane confessed. Ranko looked surprised, but held her peace as promised. Akane continued: "I considered boys as the scum of the earth. I could never see myself marrying one, but I never had been attracted to girls either. I just figured it was in my nature to never want to be married and that was that. But as time went by, I found that I was somehow drawn to Ranko. When you rescued me from Ryoga's anger the first time he showed up, and picked me up to carry me to safety as Ranko, you woke up feelings in myself that I didn't understand. I was afraid of those feelings and eventually became afraid I was gay. I called you 'pervert' because I thought *I* might be the pervert. I started to hate myself."

Ranko reached out and grabbed Akane's hand. "I'm sorry I did that to you."

Akane smiled at Ranko. "You didn't do that to me Ranma, I did that myself, but the story has a happy ending. Hold on… Eventually, it was finally driving me crazy enough that Yuka noticed. She managed to talk me down from the anxiety ledge I was stuck on, and insisted that I talk to someone she knew. One of her friends was a counselor for gay teens. I think I spent an entire afternoon talking to the counselor about you and me, with Yuka providing moral support. I learned several things that day, including the fact that gays were not perverts – or at least no more than anyone else (Yuka's friend was gay and there was certainly nothing wrong with her), there was nothing wrong with myself being gay if that was the case, and that I really wasn't gay in the first place. I was just another confused teenager in a bad place trying to sort out who I was. I had Kuno driving everyone around me nuts and then I had this friend who was literally a male trapped in a female's body. I could always feel your Yang-dominant spirit no matter what the form you wore, and when you were Ranko, the repulsion I felt around boys faded. My Yin-dominant spirit was attracted to your Yang-dominant spirit. That was that."

"I think I need Yuka to introduce me to her friend," Ranma commented.

Akane smiled at Ranko. "Trust me Ranma, you're not gay."

Ranko smiled back. "Says you," the pig-tailed girl answered. "I love you just as much as when I'm female as when I am male." Then Ranko's face turned serious, "I need to thank her for taking care of you when I couldn't. Also, Pops being the moron he is instilled some homophobia into me. I've been working on removing it, but maybe if I talk to Yuka's friend, she can help me can work it out of my system faster."

Akane nodded at that. "A worthy goal," she said. "Anyway, the point of this is that I can always feel your spirit Ranma, no matter what form you take and it's always the same allowing for the inversion. You're a mix of Yin and Yang, just like everyone else, and since you're male, you have more Yang Chi than Yin Chi as you should. Unlike the other shape shifters, you have nothing else sharing your spirit – there are no idle Chi paths in your system. The only thing that makes you different from any other guy is that your Yang Chi has a physical manifestation, and so does your Yin Chi. But you know there can never be a living creature that is just Yin or just Yang. The other side never goes away. There's no Ranma-Yang and no Ranma-Yin, there's just Ranma."

Ranma/Ranko sighed. "Your real point being that I have no normal physical side anymore. I'm a male spirit with two physical sides and I should be comfortable in either one, because they are both me," the shape-changer said. "But the frilly underwear didn't work, because I'm still Yang dominant, even when my Yin side is physically manifesting." Akane just nodded.

Ranko grabbed the hot thermos once more and got up. "Just enough for one last change," she said. She seemed to whisper something then, with a splash, Ranma stood there. Ranma picked up the cold thermos and whispered something again, and then Ranko was back, fully clothed.

"What did you whisper?" Akane asked.

"I said 'I am Ranma.' And it worked by the way. I got the Jusenkyo magic to handle the clothes switch. I'll need to practice some more later, but I understand now." Ranko stretched and looked at Akane. "I know lunch is within the hour, but how about I treat you to an ice cream now. After lunch, we can go and pick up some basic clothes for my Yin side without all the frills that annoy my Yang side so Kasumi can have her bra back." The red-haired girl stretched her hand towards Akane.

Akane took Ranko's hand and accepted the help standing up. "Sounds good – you're on." The two young women left the dojo hand-in-hand.

* * *

Nodoka silently walked into the empty dojo and picked up the discarded frilly underwear. She squeezed them into a ball and sank to the floor as tears began to pour down her face. "My son!" she weeped loudly. "Oh, my precious son! Despite everything that has happened to you, you are still you, first and foremost. It's not fair – it's just not fair that you have to put up with all this garbage! And to top it all off, you have an idiot for a mother!" With that, she took the sword she always carried and hurled it across the dojo floor. She then got up quickly and ran to a cabinet that held ceremonial equipment. Nodoka opened it and grabbed a lighter. She took out her copy of the Seppuku contract and touched the lighter to it. She placed the lighter back in the cabinet and watched the copy burn.

Suddenly, she was filled with pain. Over ten years of abandonment and loneliness poured into her soul. Her childhood memories also returned to crush her. The words "Honor" and "Sacrifice" struck physical blows in her stomach. With a cry she sank to the floor and tried to beat out the flames with her hands, burning herself in the process. The document was too far gone to be of any use. With another cry she sprang up and retrieved the sword, and then she ran to the dojo's basement door. Flinging it open, she ran down the steps and moved through the half-lit basement to an unused end-table stacked untidily along the wall. Nodoka opened the drawer, and, with a shaking hand, took out another copy of the Seppuku contract. The shaking stopped as soon as she had the document, and she collapsed to the floor in relief.

After a few minutes, Nodoka raised her head cursing her weakness. Unfortunately, she looked at a mirror standing a couple of meters away. At first, she just saw her tear streaked face, but after a minute or so, her face became ash-covered, and the word "Guilty" appeared on her forehead. "Nooo!" she screamed. "Noo! I will not kill my son!" She took a tanto out of her robe and began smashing it point first into the concrete floor, trying to destroy the knife. After about the tenth strike, the blade snapped, slicing her wrist. She dropped the blade and grabbed her wrist, staunching the blood-flow. She fell to the floor again and began sobbing uncontrollably. She lay there for quite some time until firm but gentle hands pulled her up. (2)

* * *

Nabiki sat there rocking the sobbing woman. "What are you doing, Nabiki?" she asked herself. "You had her. You had her good. You could get her for trying to burn down the dojo and for a suicide attempt. One emergency phone call and one short story later and the crazy woman is out of Ranma's and Akane's lives forever." The teenager gently pried the woman's hand off of her wrist and looked at the damage. She also appraised the burns on Nodoka's hands. Then she clamped a torn towel over the wound and wiped Nodoka's hands with the remainder of the towel.

"We are going to have to get that looked at, Nodoka. That's going to need stitches," Nabiki calmly told the sobbing woman.

Nodoka made a sudden intake of breath. "I can't do that, Nabiki," Nodoka said between sobs. "They will think I tried to kill myself."

"Shh…" Nabiki told her. "We have a doctor in the family these days. And I saw what you were trying to do to the tanto blade. I'll tell Tofu the truth," Nabiki paused for a minute, and then continued: "But I think it's better if you tell Tofu the truth yourself." Nabiki continued to rock Nodoka.

"What?" the older woman asked.

"You are fighting with yourself, Auntie," Nabiki said, choosing the last word very deliberately. "You know the right way forward, but something is stopping you and forcing you to double back. You know Ranma deserves life." She felt Nodoka nod her head.

"It hurts, Nabiki. It hurts all the time," Nodoka sobbed out.

"Shh…I know, Auntie. Pain just means something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Tofu's a doctor; one of the best around. It's his job to fix things," she comforted Nodoka.

"What if I can't be fixed? What if they have to put me away?" the frightened woman asked.

"Do you think we would forget about you?" Nabiki asked. "Do you think Ranma would ever forget about you? Whatever path you travel, you won't travel alone. But, I don't think it will come to that – they can do a lot with modern medicines, and talking things out does help a lot. Most of the time, you act normal. I don't think you are at the point of no return yet. Trust me. More importantly, trust Tofu."

"I do trust Tofu; and I trust you too, Nabiki," the wounded woman said.

Nabiki did not let her surprise show. She just continued to hold Nodoka. Her thoughts rolled on though. "She trusts me," Nabiki said to herself. "Even more surprisingly, she's right. I won't betray her. What the hell is wrong with me? This could all be over so fast. Instead, I'm signing us all up for the long haul."

Nabiki mentally shook her head. "This is all your fault, Saotome," she thought. "Ever since you showed up, things have been changing. You are Chaos personified. Our buffoon of a doctor has transformed into a Wise Sage. My ditsy older sister has become the Matriarch once more. My irresponsible father now has a job and a position of authority. My spoiled princess of a sister is now a real martial artist. Your crazy mother is fighting towards sanity. Worst of all, you've changed me, you moron. You've changed the mercenary, the thrill seeker, into a human being. Your disease is contagious. You have made us all shape-shifters."

Nabiki held Nodoka for a little bit more and then urged the woman up. "C'mon, Nodoka. It's time to let the light in," she told Nodoka. Nodoka nodded her head and let Nabiki guide her. As Nabiki led her out of the basement, Nabiki spared one more thought for her brother-in-law-to-be: "And may all the Kami bless you for it, Ranma."

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) From the final chapters of the Manga.

(2) This is an image from the end of Chapter 2 from "The Date – The Flip Side". Ms. Hinako had smeared ashes on Nodoka in punishment for trying to force Akane and Ranma to wed and for holding the Seppuku document over Ranma.

* * *

A/N:

I'm often surprised how a plot changes direction as a story is written. This was supposed to be a pure humor piece, but the original plot of Bindings had Nodoka serving as the main antagonist in "The Destruction of Ranma Saotome", and that story was miserable – Nodoka was out of character (among other things). I couldn't find any justifications for her actions in the Manga or the Anime (breaking one of my major rules). So I started to re-write "Destruction" from scratch at the same time I wrote this piece, and Nodoka's redemption (which was not suppose to happen until the end of "Trinity") ended up starting here in "Shape-Shifters", changing the feel of this piece. I then added Akane's story of confusion as well and I thought it fit. I hope you enjoyed the story anyway.

Next up (in a few weeks): Nodoka lays down a challenge to Genma – teach Ranma something new, beat Ranma in a sparring match, or get a real job (horrors of horrors). See you then for "Genma's Job".

Take care!

Skystrider


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